May 24, 2024
OASAS Meeting with Impacted Providers re: Status of OASAS Vocational Services, Day Rehab Services and Workforce Programs, held May 23, 2024
Yesterday Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham held an impromptu meeting with representatives from OASAS agencies that operate OASAS vocational programs, workforce programs, and/or day rehab programs. The agencies received a letter on May 17 from the state notifying them of an impending budget cut that would effectively eliminate the programs (listed above) by the end of the first quarter of the state fiscal year. The NYS Council and other advocates had been applying pressure to dissuade the state from implementing the elimination of these critical services. Most recently we sent a letter to the Governor and the Commissioner calling for restoration through the end of the current (state) fiscal year and offering potential solutions as to where OASAS could look for resources to ensure services remained available. During the call, Commissioner Cunningham took responsibility for the manner in which the state had gone about sharing the news of the intended cut and corresponding elimination of these services. She announced that all impacted providers will be funded through the end of their fiscal year (NYC = June 30, 2025; ROS = March 31, 2025). OASAS intends to work with the field to reform the model making changes identified through an equity lens to ensure consistently positive outcomes across all funded programs. More on this to follow.
OASAS Town Hall Discussion re: the OASAS Restructuring Addiction Services Financing Initiative (RASFI) , held May 23, 2024
Also yesterday OASAS hosted a Town Hall to inform providers of what the state agency and its consultant, Third Horizon Strategies, has been working on since the last information session and subsequent focus group meetings. Although we have not yet received the PowerPoint deck from the Town Hall, the NYS Council captured all of the slides and we have posted them on our Website for your convenience. Here’s the link: https://nyscouncil.org/oasas-restructuring-addictions-services-financing-project/ You will note in the slides that there is a bit more clarity and definition in terms of Project Cycle Timelines and Program Categories By Cycle. The slides also discuss feedback collected from the various focus groups conducted by the project consultants.
Questions? Give me a call at your convenience at 518 461-8200.